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Efficient & Effective Gardening Made Easy

Jason Bergstrand

jebergstrand@gmail.com

Ph: 701-306-5280

All New Square Foot Gardening

By Mel Bartholomew

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Improve your families health: Eating more fresh fruits and

vegetables is one of the most important things you and your

family can do to stay healthy

Save money on groceries: Your grocery bill will shrink as

you begin to stock your pantry with fresh produce from your

backyard

Reduce food waste: When it’s “yours” you will be less likely

to take it for granted and more likely to eat it or preserve it

before it goes to waste

Get outdoor exercise: planting, watering, and harvesting

add purposeful physical activity to your day

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continued

Stop worrying about food safety: When you responsibly grow your own food you don’t have to worry about contamination that may occur at the farm, manufacturer or during transportation process

Enjoy better tasting food: Fresh food is the best food! If it tastes better, you’ll be more likely to eat the healthy, fresh produce that you know your body needs

Reduce environmental impact: Food grown organically will spare the earth the burden of unnecessary air and water pollution. Less transport of fresh produce from all over the world reduces the use of fossil fuels

Build a sense of pride: Growing your own food is one of the most purposeful and important things a person can do. It’s work that directly helps you thrive, nourish your family and maintain your health

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Grow more in less space,

no tilling, no thinning, very

little weeding

Grow your own nutritious foods

and save money

Local foods are better for the

environment

Encourages family involvement

Source of physical activity

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1. Layout- Arrange your garden in squares, not rows. Lay it out in

basic sections of 4’x4’ areas. 4’ wide but any length

2. Boxes- Construct boxes to hold soil mix above ground in a raised

bed

3. Aisles- Space boxes 3’ apart to form walking paths

4. Soil- Fill boxes with special soil mix: 1/3 compost. 1/3 peat moss

1/3 coarse vermiculite

5. Grids- Construct a square foot grid for the top of each box to

organize and space plants

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6. Care- NEVER walk on your garden soil. Tend to your garden by

reaching in from the sides

7. Select- Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each

square foot using 1,4,9, or 16 plants per square foot

8. Plant- Conserve seeds, plant only a pinch or 2 or 3 seeds per hole

9. Water- Water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water

10. Harvest-When you finish harvesting a square, add compost and

replant it with a different crop

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The following mix of soil is ideal for the SFG. It controls weeds,

maximizes nutritional value of food and production levels.

1/3 Compost- 5 varieties is best (chicken, sheep, cow manure...)

1/3 Peat Moss

1/3 Vermiculite

Build Frame Fill Mix Add Grids

Grids made

from wood lathe

Mel Bartholomew’s Mix

Add Trellis

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One 4x4 garden will feed 1 person (salad or dish) for the entire summer

Advantages

Economical- reduces everything to 1/5 the space Mel Bartholomew, Author of SFG

New Method- easy to understand

User Friendly- all ages can do it

Locate Anywhere- close to your house

Efficient- produces up to 2x in much less space

Earth Friendly- reduce, reuse, recycle

Very Productive- just enough as you need

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Spacing Examples For SFG

1 Plant/SF – Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Corn, Okra, Eggplant, Peppers, Tomatoes

4 Plants/SF(6” apart)- Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Marigolds

9 Plants/SF (4” apart) Bush Beans, Beets, Spinach

16 Plants/SF – Carrots, Radishes, Onions

+Trellis Trellis Trellis Trellis

Tomato

1

Cucumber

1

Cucumber

1

Tomato

1

Pepper

1

Peas

9

Beans

9

Pepper

1

Beans

9

Beets

9

Carrots

16

Peas

9

Radish

16

Onions

16

Lettuce

16

Spinach

9

Number indicates the number of plants or seeds to be spaced in each square foot of your garden.

Questions can be directed to:

Dale L. Siebert, Extension Agent – 642-7793

Square Foot Garden Plot

Otter Tail Government Service Center

Pavers and Ledge 4’ x4’

Tip:

Gardens need

6-8

hrs/sunlight/day

Tip:

Place trellis on

North side to not

block southern

exposure of sun

Located close to employee entry

Onions

Pole beans-trellis on back side of garage

4 ‘x12’ Box

Summer squash & Zucchini

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Do

Train your plants to grow vertically (use trellis-place it on North side)

Keep a diary of your garden’s progress- helps in design from yr to yr

Rotate crops each season to reduce disease and improve pest control

Practice composting

Keep learning new information & techniques- (SFG, internet, library)

Don’t

Use old tires or treated lumber to make a raised bed vegetable garden

They may leak harmful chemicals into the food

Over plant, start small and add to your garden in later years

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Let produce climb

trellis system

Grow vertically

Tomatoes being

supported by

trellis system

Tip: pinch off

tops by August,

so energy goes

back into

Tomatoes not

the vine

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What country

or civilization

was most

likely to

develop the

idea for

container

gardening?

+Container Gardening

Benefits

Allows you to enjoy plants where traditional garden is

awkward or impossible

Plants can thrive on rooftops, decks, balconies, or

stairs

Grow different plants together that support each other

Oregano repels insects that bother broccoli and oregano

enhances the flavor of beans

Plants can easily be moved if necessary

Rain, sun, disease, used as an insect repellant

+Hanging Baskets

Medium sized pot

Tomato

with tomato cage

Tip:

Can be moved

around for

convenience

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Cucumbers in a container

Flowers

Herbs

Vegetables

+Grow plants anywhere

in just about anything

+Tabletop Square Foot Garden

+Patio Potato

Planter

Cherry

Tomatoes

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Benefits of Composting

Growing hardly plants and vegetables

Reducing the need for weeding

Keeping your yard clean

Reducing yard waste in landfills

Producing natural soil conditioner

+ Plants that Keep Insects and

Pests at Bay

Marigolds

Nasturtium

Cosmos

Aster

Rosemary

Basil

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•Eat fresh produce daily from your garden

•Store extra foods by canning or freezing

•Feel great by giving away food to neighbors,

friends, and food pantry

+ Ideas to Engage and Sustain

Children’s Interest Let them be a part of the design of the garden- what to plant,

how much and where

Let them develop a theme for the garden such as: pizza, salsa,

soup or stir fry garden and give it a special name

“The Smith’s Spicy Salsa & Soup Garden”

Teach them to propagate seeds and transplant veggies and

flowers into the garden in the spring

Give them assignments such as watering, weeding and

composting kitchen food scraps

Play counting games with the grids and produce

Have children check on the garden each day and report:

insects, damage to plants, and predators

+Resources

www.squarefootgardening.com

www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/

www.kidsgardening.org Ideas for children

http://childrens.wcroc.cfans.umn.edu/pages/educators/lesson1.php

University of Minnesota

http://www.gardeners.com/Vegetable-Gardening/5069,default,pg.html

Shows video of raised beds in a variety of themes

www.organicgardeningguru.com/ Benefits of organic gardening

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(2) 2”x8”x8’ wood- cut boards in half to build 4’x4’ frame

Use newspaper or weed barrier for bottom of frame. Use plywood and cut drainage holes for a table top version

½” rebar (2) 4’ sections. Pound 1 ½-2’ into the ground on the ends of the NORTH side of your garden

3/4” conduit (2) 6’ sections and (1) 4’ section. Use elbow brackets to hold the 3 pieces together and slide over the rebar

If desired add (2) conduit brackets to secure trellis to bottom part of the garden frame

Trellis netting- attach netting to the trellis frame

Most importantly the soil mix: 1/3 Compost (5 varieties), 1/3 Peat Moss, and 1/3 Coarse Vermiculite